B. Snipes‘ debut Away, Awayestablished Snipes’ immense potential as a folk singer/songwriter, while his follow-up American Dreamershowed off his pop songcraft. With his new album My Mountain Home, Snipes circles back and makes good on the promise of his debut EP. My Mountain Homeis a impressive collection of warm, deftly-handled folk songs. Snipes makes simplicity sound easy, as if there’s anything easy about writing concise, minimally-arranged songs that are each distinctly rewarding.

In contrast to the big pop record he just came from, Home is a much more intimate affair in arrangement and subject matter. The arrangements rarely get beyond a warm, round guitar; Snipes’ easygoing vocals; background harmonies; and occasional support instrument (violin, piano, or banjo). Far from being repetitive, the consistency gives a comfortable, familial feel to the work–these are all tunes that you can play on the back porch or around the fire without drastically changing the arrangement. That’s a true folk record right there: these are B. Snipes’ songs, but they can also be your songs. They can be anyone’s songs.

The subject matter is intimate and familial as well. As the title suggests, this is an album about growing up in the mountains. Snipes grew up there, and his father did too–four short interviews with Snipes’ father are woven through the record. They ground the record in lived experience and real places; they are the rare spoken word interstitials that contribute to the album instead of taking away from the flow.

Between and around those interviews are the songs, which run the gamut of topics: “40 Acres” a nostalgic stream of memories about living on the mountain, “Veggie Stew” (featuring a banjo) is a love song comparing the quality of love to the quality of vegetable stew, “Simple” is an indictment of the complexity of modern life, and “Last Night” is a murder ballad (!). Each of these tunes have a direct or indirect appreciation for rural life that ties them together almost as tightly as the shared arrangement style.

It’s opener “Oh Tennessee” that encapsulates the record best. All the themes of the record are there in the first three lines: “When I was young, I learned to comb my hair and shoot a gun / on a 40-acre farm there in those woods / I came to learn the simple life is sweet.” Those lyrics are delivered by Snipes’ effortless delivery and paired with guileless, delicate fingerpicking. Gentle vocal harmonies and resonant piano fill out the tune, creating a perfect opening track to set the tone for the record.

My Mountain Home is a true-blue folk record that evokes all of the best aspects of folk: personal-yet-univeral lyrics, warm arrangements, and great melodies. The results are an honest, earnest, intimate account of rural life that is easy to listen to and easy to love. It fulfills the promise of Snipes’ early work and establishes him as a thoughtful, careful songwriter. Snipes is one to watch. Fans of Sam Amidon’s quieter work should take to this one with great joy. Highly recommended.